Chagnesia: Real Or Fake?

Community, S04E06

Abed shot a documentary about Chagnesia to submit to the MacGuffin Institute so that the school would get a grant to pay for Chang's, aka Kevin's, recovery.  Jeff pretended to join the cause only so he could expose Kevin the moment that he slipped up and showed his true colors.  Despite geting his friends to unknowingly investigate Chang's activities before his amnesia and his current behavior, Jeff struggled to find any incriminating evidence to support his theory Kevin was faking it.

As much as Jeff has good reason to doubt Kevin, it was hard to take his side when his friends had already been won over by Kevin.   When Jeff is acting by himself, especially if he's trying to hurt someone else, he looks more like a bully than a lone hero.  In fact, I felt a little bad for Jeff because he looked like such an insensitive ass throughout the whole documentary.  The worst was when he was trying to make out with Chang's ex-wife, in the hopes that Kevin's jealousy would reveal his lies.  Instead, Jeff looked like some kind of sex-crazed animal, attacking a woman who had only come to help her former husband.  I liked that Abed didn't show us how bad it had gotten before people were able to stop Jeff from embarrassing himself further.

Some other things that I liked included the comments at the beginning from Dr.  Kedan.  I thought he gave the funniest line when he mentioned that Kevin didn't remember being Chang, yet was still making puns:

Why Changnesia affects the memory, not the ability to make forced puns is all things we can study now that someone finally has it.

I kept thinking about that myself.  If Kevin has such a huge memory loss, why is he making those Chang puns?  Although, I'm glad he is.

My second favorite line was when Abed and Jeff were reviewing the footage that Britta had taken and Jeff was hopeful that they would see Chang slip up now that he was alone:

Doubtful.  When he's alone he mostly practices smiling and frowning.  We've all done it.

I loved the way Jeff looked at Abed when he said that as much as I like picturing Abed staring in a mirror practicing smiling and frowning appropriately.  It's a nice nod to that fact that Abed usually appears very expressionless in almost all situations.  If any emotion ever shows in his face, it's usually surprise/horror.

In the end, it was interesting that Jeff came to understand a little bit of how it felt to be Chang and be isolated when he friends were surrounding their new friend Kevin, while Jeff had to sit by his lonesome.  It was what he deserved, and it taught him an unexpected lesson.  However, I loved the irony that Chang was in fact lying all along.  Jeff hadn't completely been won over, but it looked like he was going to give Kevin a chance.  This all seems to be going according to Chang's plan, which I'm excited to learn about.  Also, who was Chang talking to?  Was it his wife?  Or someone else that has reason to get back at Greendale as much as Chang does?  Super glad that Chang hasn't turned as good as he seems.

This was a good episode.  I wish that it had been a funnier documentary, considering that Abed was the head of it.  However, he does tend to let stories play themselves out and keep himself neutral from the actions going on around him.  He did sort of help Jeff, but Jeff definitely didn't have any true allies with him on the quest to expose Chang.  After learning what seemed to be a valuable lesson about giving people second chances and walking in another person's shoes, Chang revealed that he was doing exactly what Jeff suspected he was.  It's unclear what Chang's evil plot is this time, but hopefully Jeff will catch onto it before Chang puts all their lives into chaos or worse, in danger.

Kevin, You're Too Good For Robin!!

 How I Met Your Mother, S07E16

This week's HIMYM was pretty good.  Barney and Ted go trolling for women on a late night train and Lily, Marshall, Kevin and Robin go to Vermont for a couples' getaway.

It was nice to see Becki Newton guest star as Quinn.  At first she seemed like one of Barney's typical targets, but when she tells him about her condition called "I'm Not A Gullible Dumbass Disorder," we know that she's not going to fall for the ridiculous lies that Barney comes up with.  Throughout the episode, we get a little glimpse of their conversation that night, but it's unclear to me whether they slept together or not.  What is clear is that Barney is infatuated with her.  I hope that she returns for another episode.  I loved her in Ugly Betty.

I thought the idea of the "Drunk Train" was stupid, but the people who inhabited it were a little funny.  It was full of New Jersey whores who kept throwing drinks in Ted's face after shouting, "You think you're better than me??"  The two figure out that the secret to success on the train is to be drunk with everyone else.  Wow.  Astounding discovery.  However, they learn that they that don't exactly want such easy girls who would probably have sex in the first private place they could find.

Ted's best line from Monday's episode was,

Screw the one!

Thank you, Ted!  We know that you will find this girl eventually because otherwise the title wouldn't make much sense, but I've been sick of his search for a while.  It was about time that he got less than serious, even if it was only for a while.  I also liked that he had talked to a girl whose favorite band was Glee.  Wow.  I don't know if I could keep a condescending expression off my face if someone said that to me.

Onto the couples' getaway.  Lily and Marshall are busy keeping score with each other, which is less funny than I hoped.  However, I did like when Marshall recalls going to a play thanks to Lily where someone is just repeatedly screaming.  Marshall leans over to another guy and asks,

 Is it just screaming?

The man then holds up the playbill, showing the title of the play, "Just Screaming."  Loved it.  Now that's the kind of HIMYM moment I look for.

I couldn't believe that Robin was still stringing along Kevin.  He's too good for her!  When they went back to their room, I was in more disbelief that he proposed to her!  What??  They haven't been together that long, and Robin hasn't come clean about her and Barney sleeping together.  Kevin is just too sweet and even after Robin tells him that she can't have children, he proposes again.  Aww!  But Robin makes sure that he understands that she doesn't even want to adopt, while Kevin proposes to her a few more times.  I love him!  But he finally thinks about the severity of what marrying Robin will be, and they break up...  I'm sad to see him go, but it had to be.  Robin wasn't good enough!  Damn you, Robin!!

In the end, Robin is seen taking a smoke, and Ted shows up so they can talk.  After she explains how she and Kevin are no longer an item, Ted does something that made me cry outloud:  he told Robin that he loves her!  What??  Ted, no!!  Come on!  You've already done this enough times with her.  Ted and Robin do not work.  I'm more in favor of Barney getting together with Robin than Ted.   Argh.  I can't believe we're going down this road again.  However, it does make me anxious to see the next episode.

Also, are we going to see who Barney marries soon?  I'm excited to see that.  It would be nice if it was Robin.  But I wouldn't be mad if it was Quinn.

Right now the possibilities are pretty open for who will be with Robin.  All I have to say is that it damn well better not be Ted because she has been referred to as "Aunt Robin" to his future kids.  That would just make no damn sense.